Server for controlling an information sharing state between a first mobile phone and a second mobile phone via a network

ABSTRACT

A server for controlling an information sharing state between a first mobile phone and a second mobile phone via a network, including: a network interface that communicates with the first mobile phone and the second mobile phone; a memory that stores a predetermined distance data; and circuitry that receives first and second GPS signals, first and second user information, and first and second restriction information from the first and second mobile phones respectively; calculates a distance between the first and second mobile phones; compares the distance with the predetermined distance; changes an information sharing state between the first and second mobile phones from a first state to a second state based on the comparison result; and restricts the change of the information sharing state based on the first restriction information and the second user information.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.13/905,543, filed on May 30, 2013, which claims priority to JapaneseApplication No. 2012-128771, filed on Jun. 6, 2012, the entire contentsof which are incorporated herein by reference in their entity.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates to an information processing apparatus, acomputer program, and a terminal apparatus. Recently, a socialnetworking site such as a social networking service or a social mediaservice to be a service for constructing a social connection between aperson and a person and between a person and a company on the Internethas been widely spread. In the social networking service, if connectionsbetween users are enabled, information can be shared between the users.

In the social networking service, the user directly finds out partnershaving the same alma mater or hobby that the user hopes for connectionsas friends with and makes friend application for the partners, so thatthe user can have the connections as the friends with the partners.However, when the user manually finds out the partners having the samealma mater or hobby that the user hopes for the connections as thefriends with, it troubles the user.

Therefore, in the social networking service, technologies forautomatically providing users having actions, hobbies, and tastesmatched with an action, a hobby, and a taste of a user to the user orgrouping the users have been disclosed (for example, refer to JP2010-211287A, JP 2004-127196A, JP 2004-62812A, and JP 2008-123233A andJP 2008-517402T). In recent years, a service called an elastic network,that is, a service for automatically grouping a plurality of userssatisfying a predetermined condition and enabling information to beshared in a corresponding group has been provided.

SUMMARY

According to one aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a serverfor controlling an information sharing state between a first mobilephone and a second mobile phone via a network, the server comprising: anetwork interface configured to communicate, via the network, with thefirst mobile phone and the second mobile phone; a memory configured tostore a predetermined distance data indicating a predetermined distance;and circuitry configured to receive, via the network interface, a firstGlobal Positioning System (GPS) signal indicating a current location ofthe first mobile phone, first user information indicating userinformation of a first user, and first restriction informationindicating restriction information of the first user from the firstmobile phone, the first GPS signal being obtained by the first mobilephone using a GPS receiver in the first mobile phone; receive, via thenetwork interface, a second GPS signal indicating a current location ofthe second mobile phone, second user information indicating userinformation of a second user, and second restriction informationindicating restriction information of the second user from the secondmobile phone, the second GPS signal being obtained by the second mobilephone using a GPS receiver in the second mobile phone; calculate adistance between the current location of the first mobile phone and thecurrent location of the second mobile phone based on the received firstGPS signal and the received second GPS signal; compare the calculateddistance with the predetermined distance indicated by the predetermineddistance data stored in the memory; change an information sharing statebetween the first mobile phone and the second mobile phone via thenetwork from a first state in which information sharing via the networkbetween the first mobile phone and the second mobile phone is disabledto a second state in which the information sharing is enabled based on acomparison result obtained by the comparison; and restrict the change ofthe information sharing state from the first state to the second statebased on the first restriction information of the first mobile phone andthe second user information of the second mobile phone.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of aninformation processing system 1 according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a serverapparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a terminalapparatus 200 a according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an outline of an operation of aninformation processing system 1 according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of information that isstored in an information storage unit 140 of a server apparatus 100 andis input by each user using each terminal apparatus;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a user interface that isdisplayed on a display unit 212 of a terminal apparatus 200 and is usedto register information with respect to a service;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of a serverapparatus 100;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of a serverapparatus 100;

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating automatic relationship constructionprocessing;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of a serverapparatus 100;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of a serverapparatus 100;

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of aninformation processing system 1 according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of a serverapparatus 100;

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of a serverapparatus 100;

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example of an image of apredetermined object designated by a user;

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of a serverapparatus 100;

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of a serverapparatus 100;

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of a serverapparatus 100;

FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating an example of restriction informationor a connection rank set by a user;

FIG. 20 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of aninformation processing system 1;

FIG. 21 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of aninformation processing system 1;

FIG. 22 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of aninformation processing system 1;

FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating an example of a user list displayed ona terminal apparatus;

FIG. 24 is a diagram illustrating an example of a user list displayed ona terminal apparatus;

FIG. 25 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of aninformation processing system 1;

FIG. 26 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of aninformation processing system 1;

FIG. 27 is a diagram illustrating an example of a user list displayed ona terminal apparatus; and

FIG. 28 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of aninformation processing system 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

If the users are automatically grouped or the connections between theusers are automatically constructed, partners that the user does nothope for connections with may be automatically connected with the user,when the partners satisfy a condition. If the user is connected to thepartners that the user does not hope for the connections as the friendswith as the friends automatically, the user has trouble to cancel theconnections and consider the partners whose connections with the userare canceled.

It is desirable to provide an information processing apparatus, acomputer program, and a terminal apparatus that can prevent a user frombeing automatically connected to partners that the user does not hopefor connections as friends with as the friends, in a service forconstructing social connections on the Internet.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is providedan information processing apparatus including a condition determiningunit that changes, when information of a first user and information of asecond user satisfy a predetermined condition, a state from a firststate in which information sharing on a communication network isdisabled between a first terminal apparatus used by the first user and asecond terminal apparatus used by the second user to a second state inwhich the information sharing is enabled, and a restricting unit thatrestricts the change of the state from the first state to the secondstate, on the basis of restriction information that is acquired from thefirst terminal apparatus and is used to restrict the change of the statefrom the first state to the second state.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provideda computer program for causing a computer to execute changing, wheninformation of a first user and information of a second user satisfy apredetermined condition, a state from a first state in which informationsharing on a communication network is disabled between a first terminalapparatus used by the first user and a second terminal apparatus used bythe second user to a second state in which the information sharing isenabled, and restricting the change of the state from the first state tothe second state, on the basis of restriction information that isacquired from the first terminal apparatus and is used to restrict thechange of the state from the first state to the second state.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provideda terminal apparatus including an input unit that, when information of afirst user and information of a second user satisfy a predeterminedcondition and a state changes from a first state in which informationsharing on a communication network is disabled between a first terminalapparatus used by the first user and a second terminal apparatus used bythe second user to a second state in which the information sharing isenabled, inputs the information of the first user and restrictioninformation to restrict the change of the first state.

According to the embodiments of the present disclosure described above,an information processing apparatus, a computer program, and a terminalapparatus that can prevent a user from being automatically connected topartners that the user does not hope for connections as friends with asthe friends, in a service for constructing social connections on theInternet, can be provided.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present disclosure will bedescribed in detail with reference to the appended drawings. Note that,in this specification and the appended drawings, structural elementsthat have substantially the same function and structure are denoted withthe same reference numerals, and repeated explanation of thesestructural elements is omitted.

The following description will be made in the order described below.

<1. Embodiment of Present Disclosure> [Configuration Example of System][Configuration Example of Server Apparatus] [Configuration Example ofTerminal Apparatus] [Operation Example of System] <2. Conclusion> <1.Embodiment of Present Disclosure> [Configuration Example of System]

First, a configuration example of an information processing systemaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described.FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of aninformation processing system 1 according to the embodiment of thepresent disclosure. Hereinafter, the configuration example of theinformation processing system 1 according to the embodiment of thepresent disclosure will be described using FIG. 1.

The information processing system 1 illustrated in FIG. 1 is a systemfor providing a service for constructing social connections betweenusers on a network, which is represented by a social networking service.As illustrated in FIG. 1, the information processing system 1 accordingto the embodiment of the present disclosure includes a server apparatus100 and terminal apparatuses 200 a, 200 b, 200 c, and 200 d. The serverapparatus 100 and the terminal apparatuses 200 a, 200 b, 200 c, and 200d are mutually connected through the Internet or other networks 10.

Each of the terminal apparatuses 200 a, 200 b, 200 c, and 200 d is aterminal that is used by the user. In the following explanation, a userwho uses the terminal apparatus 200 a is called a user A, a user whouses the terminal apparatus 200 b is called a user B, a user who usesthe terminal apparatus 200 c is called a user C, and a user who uses theterminal apparatus 200 d is called a user D. The number of terminalapparatuses is not limited to the above example and changes according tothe number of users who use the information processing system 1.

The server apparatus 100 manages a variety of information that isgenerated by the terminal apparatuses 200 a, 200 b, 200 c, and 200 d andis transmitted from the terminal apparatuses 200 a, 200 b, 200 c, and200 d through the network 10. In this embodiment, the server apparatus100 provides a service for realizing construction of social connectionsbetween the users. The server apparatus 100 constructs the socialconnections between the users and enables information to be sharedbetween the users.

In this embodiment, the server apparatus 100 provides a service forautomatically registering users satisfying a predetermined condition asfriends and enabling information to be shared between the users makingfriends with each other, to the users. However, as described above, ifthe users satisfying the predetermined condition are registered as thefriends unlimitedly, partners that the user does not hope forconnections with may be automatically connected to the user, when thepartners satisfy the condition. If the user is automatically connectedto the partners that the user does not hope for the connections with,the user has trouble to cancel the connections and consider the partnerswhose connections with the user are canceled.

Therefore, in this embodiment, the server apparatus 100 executesprocessing for preventing the user from being automatically connected tothe partners that the user does not hope for the connections with andprevents the above-described problem from occurring. The processing forpreventing the user from being automatically connected to the partnersthat the user does not hope for the connections with, which is executedby the server apparatus 100, will be described in detail below.

FIG. 1 illustrates only one server apparatus 100. However, the presentdisclosure is not limited to the above example. For example, a pluralityof server apparatuses may be provided, processing may be distributed toor executed by the plurality of server apparatuses, and a configurationof the server apparatus 100 to be described below may be realized.

The configuration example of the information processing system 1according to the embodiment of the present disclosure has been describedusing FIG. 1. Next, a configuration example of the sever apparatus 100according to the embodiment of the present disclosure will be described.

[Configuration Example of Server Apparatus]

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the configuration example of the serverapparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure.Hereinafter, the configuration example of the server apparatus 100according to the embodiment of the present disclosure will be describedusing FIG. 2.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the server apparatus 100 according to theembodiment of the present disclosure includes a control unit 110, areceiving unit 120, a communication unit 130, and an information storageunit 140.

The control unit 110 controls an operation of the server apparatus 100.The control unit 110 wholly executes processing for providing a servicefor constructing social connections between users on the network, suchas the social networking service. For example, the control unit 110executes processing for automatically registering users satisfying apredetermined condition as friends. When the control unit 110 executesthe processing for automatically registering the users satisfying thepredetermined condition as the friends, the control unit 110 executesprocessing for preventing the user from being automatically connected topartners that the user does not hope for connections with.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the control unit 110 includes a conditiondetermining unit 111, a restricting unit 112, an updating unit 113, anda release setting unit 114. When information of a certain user andinformation of a different user satisfy the predetermined condition, thecondition determining unit 111 executes processing for changing a statefrom a state (first state) in which information sharing between theusers is disabled to a state (second state) in which the informationbetween the users is enabled. When the state changes from the firststate in which the information sharing between the users is disabled tothe second state in which the information sharing between the users isenabled, the restricting unit 112 executes processing for restrictingthe change of the state from the first state to the second state, on thebasis of user information and restriction information acquired from eachterminal apparatus by the receiving unit 120 to be described below.

The updating unit 113 automatically updates information of each usertransmitted from each user, on the basis of an action history of eachuser. The release setting unit 114 sets whether or not to release eachitem of information of each user.

The condition determining unit 111 and the restricting unit 112 areillustrated as different blocks in FIG. 2. However, the presentdisclosure is not limited to the above example. For example, thecondition determining unit 111 and the restricting unit 112 are notconfigured as the different blocks and may be integrated in the controlunit 110 or may be realized in a program executed by the control unit110. That is, the condition determining unit 111 and the restrictingunit 112 may be configured as one processing program.

Similar to the condition determining unit 111 and the restricting unit112, the updating unit 113 and the release setting unit 114 may beconfigured as different processing blocks as illustrated in FIG. 2 ormay be integrated in the control unit 110.

The receiving unit 120 acquires a variety of information that isreceived from each terminal apparatus by the communication unit 130.Specifically, the receiving unit 120 acquires information (privateinformation) of the user and information (restriction information)regarding the partners that the user does not hope for the connectionswith, from each terminal apparatus. The receiving unit 120 supplies theacquired information to the control unit 110 or stores the acquiredinformation in the information storage unit 140 according to necessity.

The communication unit 130 executes communication processing with otherapparatuses (for example, the terminal apparatuses 200 a, 200 b, 200 c,and 200 d) through the network 10. By the communication processingexecuted by the communication unit 130, the server apparatus 100 canacquire information from other apparatuses (for example, the terminalapparatuses 200 a, 200 b, 200 c, and 200 d) through the network 10 ortransmit information to other apparatuses through the network 10.

The information storage unit 140 stores and holds a variety ofinformation and is configured using storage media such as a ROM, a RAM,and an HDD. In this embodiment, the information storage unit 140 storesinformation that is transmitted from each terminal apparatus. Theinformation that is stored by the information storage unit 140 includesinformation (private information) of each user who uses each terminalapparatus and information (restriction information) regarding partnersthat the user does not hope for connections with.

The server apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the presentdisclosure has the configuration illustrated in FIG. 2, executes theprocessing for preventing the user from being automatically connected tothe partners that the user does not hope for the connections with, andcan prevent the above-described problem from occurring.

The configuration example of the server apparatus 100 according to theembodiment of the present disclosure has been described. Next, aconfiguration example of each terminal apparatus according to theembodiment of the present disclosure will be described.

[Configuration Example of Terminal Apparatus]

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the terminalapparatus 200 a according to the embodiment of the present disclosure.In FIG. 3, only the configuration example of the terminal apparatus 200a is described, because other terminal apparatuses 200 b, 200 c, and 200d have the same configuration as that of the terminal apparatus 200 a inthis embodiment. Hereinafter, the configuration example of the terminalapparatus 200 a according to the embodiment of the present disclosurewill be described using FIG. 3.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the terminal apparatus 200 a according to theembodiment of the present disclosure includes a communication unit 211,a display unit 212, a control unit 213, a location acquiring unit 214, aspeech communication unit 215, a memory 216, and an operation unit 217.

The communication unit 211 performs communication with another apparatus(for example, the server apparatus 100) through the network 10. Thedisplay unit 212 displays information received by the communication unit211 or information according to an operation of the user with respect tothe operation unit 217. For example, the display unit 212 is configuredusing a flat-plate-type image display panel such as a liquid crystaldisplay and an organic EL display. In this embodiment, a touch panel maybe provided in the display unit 212.

The control unit 213 controls various operations of the terminalapparatus 200 a. For example, the control unit 213 executes a programstored in the memory 216 and controls the operations of the terminalapparatus 200 a. As the control of the operations of the terminalapparatus 200 a performed by the control unit 213, communication controlwith respect to the communication unit 211 and display control ofinformation with respect to the display unit 212 are exemplified.

The location acquiring unit 214 acquires a current location of theterminal apparatus 200 a. In order to acquire the current location ofthe terminal apparatus 200 a, the location acquiring unit 214 may be aGPS (Global Positioning System) receiver and may be an element that hasa function of acquiring the current location from an access point of awireless LAN. The speech communication unit 215 is configured using aspeaker or a microphone and performs voice communication with anotherterminal apparatus or a telephone. The memory 216 is configured using aROM and a RAM and is used to store a program for controlling theoperation of the terminal apparatus 200 a. The operation unit 217 isconfigured using a button to operate the terminal apparatus 200 a.According to the operation of the operation unit 217, the operation ofthe terminal apparatus 200 a is controlled by the control unit 213. If atouch panel is provided in the display unit 212, the touch panel alsofunctions as the operation unit 217.

The terminal apparatus 200 a may further include a sensor 218. Thesensor 218 is a biological sensor such as a myoelectric sensor thatacquires biological information (for example, a pulse is a heart rateand the like) of the user. When the biological information of the useris acquired by the sensor 218, the terminal apparatus 200 a preferablyincludes a sensor of a wristwatch type or a glasses type that directlycontacts a body of the user.

The configuration example of the terminal apparatus 200 a according tothe embodiment of the present disclosure has been described using FIG.3. Next, an operation example of the information processing system 1according to the embodiment of the present disclosure will be described.

[Operation Example of System]

After describing an outline of an operation of the informationprocessing system 1 according to the embodiment of the presentdisclosure, an operation of each apparatus that forms the informationprocessing system 1 will be described in detail. FIG. 4 is a diagramillustrating the outline of the operation of the information processingsystem 1 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure.

Hereinafter, the outline of the operation of the information processingsystem 1 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure will bedescribed using FIG. 4.

As described above, in this embodiment, the user who uses the terminalapparatus 200 a is called the user A, the user who uses the terminalapparatus 200 b is called the user B, the user who uses the terminalapparatus 200 c is called the user C, and the user who uses the terminalapparatus 200 d is called the user D. Each user previously performs userregistration to use the service, with respect to the server apparatus100, using each terminal apparatus. Each user inputs user information tobe information of each user, restriction information to be informationregarding partners that the user does not hope for automatic connectionswith, and evaluation information to be information to evaluate userinformation of other users, with respect to the service, using eachterminal apparatus. Each terminal apparatus transmits the informationinput by each user to the server apparatus 100 through the network 10.

In FIG. 4, the user information, the restriction information, and theevaluation information input by the user A are illustrated as userinformation 1, restriction information 1, and evaluation information 1,respectively. Likewise, the user information, the restrictioninformation, and the evaluation information input by the user B areillustrated as user information 2, restriction information 2, andevaluation information 2, respectively, the user information, therestriction information, and the evaluation information input by theuser C are illustrated as user information 3, restriction information 3,and evaluation information 3, respectively, and the user information,the restriction information, and the evaluation information input by theuser D are illustrated as user information 4, restriction information 4,and evaluation information 4, respectively.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of information that isstored in the information storage unit 140 of the server apparatus 100and is input by each user using each terminal apparatus. As illustratedin FIG. 5, the information storage unit 140 of the server apparatus 100stores the information input by each user using each terminal apparatus,for each user. The information that is stored in the information storageunit 140 is referred to by the control unit 110 on occasion.

FIG. 5 illustrates items of user information, restriction information,evaluation information, and evaluated information. The evaluatedinformation is evaluation information from other users, with respect tothe evaluation information input by each user. By the evaluatedinformation, accuracy of the evaluation information that is input byeach user is secured. A use example of the evaluated information will bedescribed below.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a user interface that isdisplayed on the display unit 212 of the terminal apparatus 200 and isused to register information with respect to a service. FIG. 6illustrates an example of the case in which a user information displayregion 220 to input and display user information, a restrictioninformation display region 230 to input and display restrictioninformation, and a friend information display region 240 to display userinformation of users registered as friends are displayed on the displayunit 212. FIG. 6 illustrates an example of the case in which editingbuttons 221, 231, and 241 to edit each information are displayed on thedisplay unit 212. The user can input the user information, therestriction information, and the evaluation information from theoperation unit 217, using the user interface illustrated in FIG. 6.Therefore, the operation unit 217 that allows the user to input therestriction information and the evaluation information is an example ofan input unit according to the present disclosure.

Each user has at least two states, that is, a state (first state) inwhich information sharing with other users is disabled and a state(second state) in which the information sharing with other users isenabled, on the service. The server apparatus 100 changes a statebetween the two states for each user.

When it is determined that the users satisfy the predeterminedcondition, on the basis of the information input by each terminalapparatus, the server apparatus 100 executes processing forautomatically registering the users as the friends. The execution of theprocessing for automatically registering the users as the friends meansthat it is not necessary to make friend application manually or permitthe friend application manually, on the service. By automaticallyregistering the users as the friends, a state of each user changes fromthe first state to the second state, on the service. In this case, thepredetermined condition includes the case in which a distance betweenthe terminal apparatuses possessed by the users approaches apredetermined distance or less, the case in which the number of times ofapproaching the predetermined distance or less is more than thepredetermined number of times, and the case in which the number of timesof exchanging e-mails is more than the predetermined number of times.The server apparatus 100 may execute the processing for automaticallyregistering the users as the friends, when the users satisfy otherconditions.

The server apparatus 100 receives user information of each userregistered from each user by the receiving unit 120. The userinformation that is received from each user by the server apparatus 100may include private information such as a career, a hobby, and a tasteof each user. The private information may include a place of employment,an age, an affiliated college, a sphere of action, a yearly income, aface, a similar entertainer, a height, religion, a weight, favorite orhateful people or a character, and measurements. The server apparatus100 may automatically update the user information received from eachuser by the server apparatus 100 by the updating unit 113, on the basisof an action history of the user. The action history of the user mayinclude a sphere of action obtained from the location acquiring unit 214of the terminal apparatus or a purchase history of products obtainedfrom the terminal apparatus.

The server apparatus 100 may set a release range and a non-release rangeof the user information for each item by the release setting unit 114,with respect to each user. The server apparatus 100 may set the releaserange of the user information by the release setting unit 114, on thebasis of connection degrees of the partners registered as the friends tobe described below.

The server apparatus 100 receives the restriction information to be theinformation regarding the partners that the user does not hope forautomatic connections with, from each terminal apparatus. When the usersare automatically registered as the friends, the server apparatus 100performs control with respect to whether or not to perform friendregistration, on the basis of the restriction information, using therestricting unit 112.

In an example illustrated in FIG. 4, when the users A and B satisfy thepredetermined condition, the server apparatus 100 performs control suchthat the user A is automatically registered as the friends with the userB to be an object user of the friend registration. At this time, theserver apparatus 100 compares the restriction information 1 input by theuser A and the user information 2 input by the user B to be the objectuser of the friend registration, by the restricting unit 112. If thefriend registration using the user information 2 input by the user B isnot disturbed by the restriction information 1 input by the user A, theautomatic friend registration of the users A and B is not restricted.Meanwhile, if the friend registration using the user information 2 inputby the user B to be the object user of the friend registration isdisturbed by the restriction information 1 input by the user A, therestricting unit 112 restricts the automatic friend restriction of theusers A and B.

In this case, an example of the restriction information that is input byeach user using each terminal apparatus will be described. Therestriction information may include a type of a face of a partner thatthe user hopes for friend registration with or does not hope for thefriend registration with, an educational background (whether a deviationvalue of a user is equal to or more than a predetermined deviation valueor not or whether the user is graduated from a certain school or not),information showing whether a user believes in certain religion (or theuser does not believe in the certain religion), information showingwhether the user has a certain hobby (or does not have the certainhobby), information showing whether a score of a qualifying test of theuser is equal to or less than a predetermined score (or is equal to ormore than the predetermined score), information showing whether the usermaintains a direct or indirect friend relationship with a certain personor not, and information showing whether the number of registered friendsis equal to or less than the predetermined number (or is equal to ormore than the predetermined number). Further, each user may register anentertainer and a celebrity using each terminal apparatus as the type ofthe face of the partner that the user hopes for the friend registrationwith or does not hope for the friend registration with and the serverapparatus 100 may use a similar degree with the face of the registeredperson as the restriction information.

For example, if information showing that the user A does not hope forthe automatic connections as the friends with the users of which thescore of the qualifying test is equal to or less than the predeterminedscore is included in the restriction information 1 input by the user A,the server apparatus 100 compares the predetermined score included inthe restriction information 1 input by the user A and the score of thequalifying test included in the user information 2 input by the user Bto be the object user of the friend registration, by the restrictingunit 112. As the comparison result of the scores by the restricting unit112, if the score included in the restriction information 1 is more thanthe score included in the user information 2, the server apparatus 100restricts the automatic friend registration of the user A and the user Bto be the object user of the friend registration.

As such, the server apparatus 100 can execute the processing forpreventing the user from being automatically connected to the partnersthat the user does not hope for the connections with, on the service, byusing the restriction information input by each user using each terminalapparatus.

The example of the case in which each user inputs the restrictioninformation using each terminal apparatus has been described. However,the restriction information may be generated automatically by the serverapparatus 100. That is, the server apparatus 100 may automaticallygenerate the restriction information of the user possessing eachterminal apparatus by the control unit 110, on the basis of theoperation history in each terminal apparatus.

For example, the tendency of the people whom the user registers as thefriends may be automatically determined by the control unit 110 of theserver apparatus 100, on the basis of the user information of the peoplewhom the user registers as the friends on the service, and therestriction information may be automatically generated on the basis ofthe determination result. As an example of the tendency of the peoplewhom the user registers as the friends, most people have faces that havehigh similar degrees with a face of a predetermined entertainer X ormost people are graduated from a university of which a deviation valueis equal to more than the predetermined deviation value. When the userregisters only the people having the faces having the high similardegrees with the face of the predetermined entertainer X as the friends,the server apparatus 100 may automatically generate information showingthat the similar degree with the face of the predetermined entertainer Xis less than the predetermined value as the restriction information.When the user registers only the people graduated from universities ofwhich deviation values are equal to or more than the predetermineddeviation value as the friends, the server apparatus 100 mayautomatically generate information showing that the people are notgraduated from the universities of which the deviation values are equalto or more than the predetermined deviation value as the restrictioninformation, by the control unit 110.

For example, the server apparatus 100 may compare a sphere of action ofthe user obtained by the location acquiring unit 214 of each terminalapparatus possessed by the user and information of an address or a rangeof activity registered in user information of a person registered as thefriend and automatically generate restriction information by the controlunit 110, on the basis of the comparison result.

For example, the server apparatus 100 may compare a purchase history ofproducts based on an NFC tag mounted on each terminal apparatuspossessed by the user or a credit card number and a purchase history ora taste of a person registered as the friend and automatically generaterestriction information by the control unit 110, on the basis of thecomparison result.

For example, the server apparatus 100 may automatically restrictioninformation to restrict automatic friend registration for a time otherthan a predetermined time by the control unit 110, from an actionhistory of the user obtained from each terminal apparatus possessed bythe user. For example, the server apparatus 100 may automaticallygenerate restriction information to restrict automatic friendregistration during a time period of commuting and attending school orrestrict the automatic friend registration during a time period otherthan a time period of a drinking session and a party by the control unit110, from the action history of the user obtained from each terminalapparatus possessed by the user.

As such, even when the users satisfy the predetermined condition, theserver apparatus 100 determines whether or not to automatically registerthe users as the friends, using the user information registered by theuser and the restriction information registered by other users. However,if the user information registered by the user is basically informationinput by the user and false content is included in input content, thecorresponding user may be automatically registered as the friends, withthe user in which it is necessary to restrict the automatic registrationof a friend relationship.

For example, in the case in which the user A sets restrictioninformation not to automatically register a user as a friend when thecorresponding user is not a user of which a score of a certain test isequal to or more than X, if the user B who is an object user of thefriend registration registers the score of the test as Z (X<Z) in theuser information, regardless of the score of the test being Y (X>Y), theusers A and B may be automatically registered as the friends, in spitethat it is necessary to restrict the automatic registration of thefriend relationship of the users A and B.

Therefore, user information that is registered by a certain user may beevaluated by other users and accuracy of the user information may besecured. At this time, necessary information is the evaluationinformation described above. For example, it is assumed that the user Bregisters “height: 180 cm” as the user information. However, it is notpossible to know whether the height of the user B is actually 180 cm ornot by only the registered user information. For this reason, otherusers (for example, users already registered as the friends with theuser B, on the service) may evaluate the user information of the user Bto secure accuracy of the user information of the user B.

When the evaluation information with respect to the user information isinput, a user interface illustrated in FIG. 6 may be used. FIG. 6illustrates an evaluation button 242 to evaluate user information of acorresponding friend displayed in the friend information display region240. Each user can evaluate the user information of the friend byoperating the evaluation button 242. In an example illustrated in FIG.6, credibility of a university from which the user B is graduated ishigh, credibility of the height of the user B is intermediate, andcredibility of a score of a test of the user B is low.

When it is determined whether or not to perform the automatic friendregistration, the restricting unit 112 acquires evaluation informationinput by another user (for example, the user C) with respect to userinformation of a certain user (for example, the user B). The restrictingunit 112 may change the weighting with respect to the user information,according to the acquired evaluation information.

For example, when the user B registers “height: 180 cm” as the userinformation, but another user (for example, the user C) registered asthe friend with the user B determines that weight information of theuser information registered by the user B is false information, the userC selects credibility of the user information regarding the weight onthe service as “low”. When a plurality of other users determine that thecredibility of the weight information of the user B is “low”, therestricting unit 112 may perform control such that the information isupdated, if the credibility of the weight information of the user B islow.

When one or more other users determine that the credibility of the userinformation is “low”, the restricting unit 12 may perform control suchthat an item of the user information determined as the informationhaving the low credibility is not considered when the automatic friendregistration is set. For example, when one or more other users determinethat the credibility of the height information of the user B is “low”,the restricting unit 112 can perform control such that the weightinformation of the user B to be the object user of the friendregistration is not considered when the automatic friend registration isset.

As such, the server apparatus 100 causes other users to evaluate theuser information input by each user, so that accuracy of the userinformation input by each user can be secured.

The restricting unit 112 may not restrict timing when the userinformation input by each user is evaluated by other users, to specifictiming. For example, the restricting unit 112 may cause an evaluator toevaluate user information of an evaluated person at timing when theevaluator is registered as friends with the evaluated person or causethe evaluator to evaluate the user information of the evaluate person attiming when an evaluation request is transmitted from the evaluatedperson to the evaluator. With respect to a friend of which a connectionrank to be described below is a predetermined rank or more, therestricting unit 112 may automatically request the evaluator to evaluatethe user information.

Each user can change the user information at any timing. Therefore, whenthe evaluated person updates/changes the user information, therestricting unit 112 may request the evaluator to evaluate the userinformation again. As such, the restricting unit 112 requests theevaluator to evaluate the user information again at change/update timingof the user information, so that the server apparatus 100 can secure thecredibility of the user information at all times.

However, if the user information is evaluated by other users, anotherproblem may occur. The problem occurs when the user who evaluates theuser information intentionally inputs a false evaluation. That is, theproblem occurs when the user B having only the height of 165 cmregisters “height: 180 cm” as the user information and the user Cintentionally evaluates the credibility of the user informationregarding the weight “high”. If the false evaluation is given by otherusers, the corresponding user may be automatically registered as thefriends with the user in which it is necessary to restrict the automaticregistration of the friend relationship by the restricting unit 112.

Therefore, the restricting unit 112 may change the weighting of theevaluation information, according to the information regarding theevaluator who evaluates the user information. In the example illustratedin FIG. 4, when the user information 2 of the user B is evaluated by theuser C and the evaluation information 3 is generated, the restrictingunit 112 performs the weighting of the evaluated information 3 of theuser C, on the basis of evaluations of the users other than the user C,with respect to the user C. For example, the restricting unit 112performs the weighting of the evaluated information 3 of the user C,using the evaluation information 1 including the evaluation of the userA with respect to the user information of the user C or the evaluationinformation 4 including the evaluation of the user D with respect to theuser information of the user C. The restricting unit 112 performs theweighting of the evaluation information 3 of the user C, using theevaluated information 3 of the user C.

For example, if a plurality of users evaluate the credibility of theuser information of the user C high, the restricting unit 112 mayincrease the weighting the evaluated information 3 of the user C. Therestricting unit 112 may increase the weighting of the evaluationinformation 3 of the user C, using the evaluated information 3 of theuser C of which the weighting has been increased. Meanwhile, when theplurality of users evaluate the credibility of the user information ofthe user C low, the restricting unit 112 may decrease the weighting ofthe evaluated information 3 of the user C. The restricting unit 112 maydecrease the weighting of the evaluation information 3 of the user C,using the evaluated information 3 of the user C of which the weightinghas been decreased.

Here, in the case in which a relationship of the user of which the userinformation is evaluated and the user who evaluates the user informationis strong, the restricting unit 112 may increase an influence degree ofevaluation input content of the evaluator on the user information. Thecase in which the relationship is strong corresponds to when the usersare graduated from the same public school, the same junior high school,or the same senior high school and have a plurality of common hobbiesand a plurality of items of the user information are common to the usersor when the users have the same hobby, go to the same school, or workfor the same company at the present time. The restricting unit 112 maychange the weighting such that an evaluation result of one evaluatorhaving a high influence degree and a plurality of evaluation results ofa plurality of evaluators having low influence degrees equally affectthe user information.

The server apparatus 100 may cause the user to input an evaluation withrespect to the credibility of the user information of other users, onthe service. The restricting unit 12 may determine the credibility ofthe credibility, on the basis of the evaluation with respect to thecredibility. For example, the restricting unit 112 may determine thecredibility of the evaluation of the evaluator who obtains evaluationsof the predetermined number or more showing that the credibility is highfrom other users, high. In addition, the restricting unit 112 maydetermine the credibility of the evaluation of the evaluator who obtainsevaluations of the predetermined number or more showing that thecredibility is low from other users, low.

In this case, the processing that has been described with reference tothe drawings will be described again. FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustratingan operation of the server apparatus 100 according to the embodiment ofthe present disclosure. The flowchart of FIG. 7 illustrates theoperation of the server apparatus 100 when the user A and the user B tobe the object user of the friend registration are automaticallyregistered as the friends, on the service provided by the serverapparatus 100. Hereinafter, the operation of the server apparatus 100according to the embodiment of the present disclosure will be describedusing FIG. 7.

First, the server apparatus 100 determines whether a state of the user Aand a state of the user B satisfy the predetermined condition, by thecondition determining unit 111 (step S101). As the determination resultof step S101, if the state of the user A and the state of the user B donot satisfy the predetermined condition, the processing of the serverapparatus 100 returns to step S101. Meanwhile, as the determinationresult of step S101, if the state of the user A and the state of theuser B satisfy the predetermined condition, the server apparatus 100determines whether the friend registration of the users A and B isaccepted, on the basis of the restriction information set by the user A,by the restricting unit 112 (step S102).

If it is determined whether the friend registration of the users A and Bis accepted, on the basis of the restriction information set by the userA, by the restricting unit 112, the server apparatus 100 determineswhether the users A and B can be registered as the friends, by thecondition determining unit 111 (step S103).

As the determination result of step S103, when the users A and B can beregistered as the friends, the server apparatus 100 automaticallyregisters the users A and B as the friends, by the control unit 110(step S104). Meanwhile, as the determination result of step S103, whenthe users A and B may not be registered as the friends, the serverapparatus 100 blocks the automatic friend registration of the users Aand B, by the control unit 110 (step S105).

By executing the processing illustrated in FIG. 7, the server apparatus100 can prevent the user from being automatically connected to thepartners that the user does not hope for the connections with, on theservice.

In the above description, it is assumed that the server apparatus 100executes the determination on whether or not to perform the friendregistration. However, the present disclosure is not limited to theabove example. For example, the server apparatus 100 may provide threeor more steps with respect to a status of the friend registration on theservice.

For example, the server apparatus 100 divides the status of the friendregistration into three steps of a “close friend”, a “common friend”,and a “non-close friend”, on the service. The server apparatus 100 maychange an information sharing degree between the users according to thestatus of the friend registration, by the release setting unit 114. Forexample, in the case of the “close friend”, the server apparatus 100 mayset the release of all of the user information by the release settingunit 114. Meanwhile, in the case of the “common friend”, the serverapparatus 100 may set the release of only a part of the user information(for example, information other than specific user informationdesignated by the user) by the release setting unit 114 and in the caseof the “non-close friend”, the server apparatus 100 may set the releaseof only limited information (for example, only the specific userinformation designated by the user) of an amount smaller than the amountof the released information in the case of the “common friend” by therelease setting unit 114.

In this case, the restricting unit 112 may change the step of the statusof the friend registration, according to at least one of the restrictioninformation and the user information. For example, it is assumed that acertain user registers a score of a certain qualifying test to be 800 ormore as the restriction information. When the score of the qualifyingtest to be 750 is registered as user information of a first other userand the score of the qualifying test to be 200 is registered as userinformation of a second other user, the restricting unit 112 may causethe user to be registered as the “close friend” with the first otheruser and cause all of the information to be shared between the user andthe first other user. Meanwhile, the restricting unit 112 may cause theuser to be registered as the “non-close friend” with the second otheruser and cause only limited partial information to be shared between theuser and the second other user. As such, the restricting unit 112changes the step of the status of the friend registration according tothe restriction information and/or the user information, so that theserver apparatus 100 enables information of a step-wise appropriateamount according to the restriction information and/or the userinformation to be shared between the users.

The server apparatus 100 changes the step of the status of the friendregistration according to the restriction information and/or the userinformation, so that the server apparatus 100 can change release contentof the user information according to a connection method between theusers. For example, the server apparatus 100 may set a range of therelease content of the user information widely with respect to the userconnected by a common hobby and set the range of the release content ofthe user information narrowly with respect to the user who has aconnection of a company relation, but does not have a common hobby.

The outline of the processing for restricting the automatic friendregistration of the user with respect to the partners that the user doesnot hope for the connections with, which is executed by the serverapparatus 100, has been described. Hereinafter, the processing describedabove will be described on the basis of a detailed specific example.

For example, the server apparatus 100 may execute the restrictionprocessing (filtering) of the friend registration based on the taste ofeach user. It is assumed that the user B registers a certain genre of amovie as the restriction information. When the user B and the differentuser A are automatically registered as the friends, the server apparatus100 may compare the genre of the movie registered as the restrictioninformation by the user B and a genre of a movie registered as afavorite movie by the user A and determine whether or not toautomatically register the users A and B as the friends.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the server apparatus100 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure. The flowchartof FIG. 8 illustrates the operation of the server apparatus 100 whenautomatic relationship construction processing for automaticallyconstructing a friend relationship between the user A and other users isexecuted, on a service provided by the server apparatus 100. In thefollowing explanation, it is assumed that the users A and B satisfy acondition to automatically perform friend registration. Hereinafter, theoperation of the server apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of thepresent disclosure will be described using FIG. 8.

First, the server apparatus 100 determines whether the user A turns onsetting for performing filtering based on a preference, by the conditiondetermining unit 111 (step S111). As the determination result of stepS111, if the user A turns on the setting for performing the filteringbased on the preference, the server apparatus 100 acquires a status of arelationship construction candidate to construct a friend relationshipwith the user A, from the user information of the user B, by thecondition determining unit 111 (step S112). Next, the server apparatus100 compares the status of the relationship construction candidateacquired by step S112 and setting completed restriction informationregistered by the user A, by the condition determining unit 111 (stepS113).

Next, the server apparatus 100 determines whether the users A and Bconform to a relationship construction condition (or do not conform to arelationship non-construction condition), from the comparison result ofstep S113, by the condition determining unit 111 (step S114).

As the determination result of step S114, when the users A and B conformto the relationship construction condition (or do not conform to therelationship non-construction condition), the server apparatus 100automatically registers the users A and B as the friends (step S115).Meanwhile, as the determination result of step S114, when the users Aand B do not conform to the relationship construction condition (orconform to the relationship non-construction condition), the serverapparatus 100 blocks the automatic relationship registration of theusers A and B as the friends, by the restricting unit 112. That is, whenthe users A and B do not conform to the relationship constructioncondition (or conform to the relationship non-construction condition),the server apparatus 100 skips the processing of step S115.

Next, the server apparatus 100 determines whether or not to continuouslyexecute the automatic relationship construction processing of the userA, by the condition determining unit 111 (step S116) If there is a userwho satisfies the automatic friend registration condition, the serverapparatus 100 returns to the processing of step S111. Meanwhile, ifthere is no user who satisfies the automatic friend registrationcondition, the server apparatus 100 ends the automatic relationshipconstruction processing of the user A.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating the automatic relationship constructionprocessing that is executed by the server apparatus 100. The serverapparatus 100 acquires information of a favorite movie that isregistered in the user information of the user B. If the serverapparatus 100 acquires information of the favorite movie of the user B,the sever apparatus 100 collates a genre of the favorite movie andinformation registered in the information storage unit 140 and specifiesthe genre.

The sever apparatus 100 collates the genre of the favorite movie of theuser B and a genre of a movie registered in the restriction informationof the user A and determines whether or not to automatically registerthe users A and B as the friends. When the server apparatus 100 collatesthe genre of the favorite movie of the user B and the genre of the movieregistered in the restriction information of the user A and the genresare matched with each other, the restricting unit 112 blocks theautomatic friend registration of the users A and B.

In FIG. 9, the explanation is given using the movie as the example.However, the present disclosure is not limited to the above example. Theserver apparatus 100 can apply the above-described processing to music,sports, a book, a TV program, and a game, in addition to the movie.

In the service such as the social networking service for constructingthe social connections of the users on the network, the user informationis registered or the action histories of the users are accumulated anddemands of the users can be disclosed. In this service, it is generallyperformed to provide a service in connection with a consumer company.For example, in the service such as the social networking service, it isvery useful to provide a coupon that allows the user to purchase aproduct cheaply. In this case, the server apparatus 100 applies therestriction processing of the automatic friend registration according tothe embodiment of the present disclosure to provision of the coupon anduseful provision is enabled.

For example, when a certain user sets “movie viewing” as a hobby in aparameter of the user information, it can be guessed that the user isdeeply interested in the movie. Therefore, it is effective that theserver device 100 provides a coupon that allows the user to view themovie cheaply in the service. When the user sets a “horror movie” as therestriction information, it is guessed that the user dislikes the horrormovie. Therefore, when the coupon is provided, the server apparatus 100may provide the coupon that allows the user to view movies other thanthe horror movie cheaply. As such, the server apparatus 100 provides aservice in which the restriction information as well as the userinformation is reflected, so that the server apparatus 100 can provide aservice adapted to the demand of the user.

When the server apparatus 100 provides a service such as the coupon, theserver apparatus 100 may use information set as other restrictioninformation as well as a parameter becoming a provision object of theservice. The server apparatus 100 provides a service using a pluralityof restriction information, so that the server apparatus 100 can improvequality when the service is provided. For example, when a certain usersets a yearly income as the restriction information, the serverapparatus 100 may provide a coupon relating to a high-quality brand-nameproduct to a user who restricts the yearly income high and provide acoupon relating to a low-quality brand-name product to a user whorestricts the yearly income low.

The server apparatus 100 may execute restriction processing (filtering)of the friend registration based on a certain time. For example, it isassumed that the user B registers information showing that the automaticfriend registration is restricted during a time period other than acertain time period (or the automatic friend registration is executedduring only the certain time period) as the restriction information.When the user B and the different user A are automatically registered asthe friends, the server apparatus 100 may refer to time informationregistered as the restriction information by the user B and determinewhether or not to automatically register the users A and B as thefriends.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the serverapparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure. Theflowchart of FIG. 10 illustrates the operation of the server apparatus100 when automatic relationship construction processing forautomatically constructing a friend relationship between the user A andthe user B to be the object user of the friend registration is executed,on the service provided by the server apparatus 100. In the followingexplanation, it is assumed that the users A and B satisfy a condition toautomatically perform friend registration. Hereinafter, the operation ofthe server apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the presentdisclosure will be described using FIG. 10.

The server apparatus 100 determines whether a current time is in adesired time period for relationship construction (or relationshipnon-construction) registered as the restriction information by the userB (step S121). The desired time period may be a specific date and timeor a regular date and time (for example, every Friday at 18:00 to21:00). When the user B does not set time information as the restrictioninformation, the server apparatus 100 executes the automaticrelationship construction processing with respect to the user B at alltimes.

Next, as the determination result of step S121, when the current time isin the desired time period for the relationship construction (or therelationship non-construction) registered as the restriction informationby the user B, the server apparatus 100 automatically registers theusers A and B as the friends (step S122). Meanwhile, as thedetermination result of step S121, when the current time is not in thedesired time period for the relationship construction (or therelationship non-construction) registered as the restriction informationby the user B, the server apparatus 100 blocks the automaticrelationship registration of the users A and B as the friends, by therestricting unit 112. That is, when the current time is not in thedesired time period for the relationship construction (or therelationship non-construction) registered as the restriction informationby the user B, the server apparatus 100 skips the processing of stepS122 described above.

Next, the server apparatus 100 determines whether or not to continuouslyexecute the automatic relationship construction processing of the userA, by the condition determining unit 111 (step S123). If there is a userwho satisfies the automatic friend registration condition, the serverapparatus 100 returns to the processing of step S121. Meanwhile, ifthere is no user who satisfies the automatic friend registrationcondition, the server apparatus 100 ends the automatic relationshipconstruction processing of the user A.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 10, the desired time period for therelationship construction (or the relationship non-construction)registered as the restriction information and the execution time of theautomatic relationship construction processing has been only collated.However, the present disclosure is not limited to the above example. Forexample, the server apparatus 100 may restrict the automatic friendregistration, using a past time base history (time base information).

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the serverapparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure. Theflowchart of FIG. 11 illustrates the operation of the server apparatus100 when automatic relationship construction processing forautomatically constructing a friend relationship between the user A andthe user B to be the object user of the friend registration is executed,on a service provided by the server apparatus 100. In the followingexplanation, it is assumed that the users A and B satisfy a condition toautomatically perform friend registration. Hereinafter, the operation ofthe server apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the presentdisclosure will be described using FIG. 11.

The server apparatus 100 determines whether the user A turns on settingfor performing filtering based on time series, by the conditiondetermining unit 111 (step S131). As the determination result of stepS131, if the user A turns on the setting for performing the filteringbased on the time series, the server apparatus 100 acquires a status ofa relationship construction candidate to construct a friend relationshipwith the user A, from the user information of the user B, by thecondition determining unit 111 (step S132).

Next, the server apparatus 100 acquires time base information of theuser B from the user information acquired by step S132, compares thetime base information of the user B and the restriction informationregistered by the user A, and determines whether the users A and Bconform to the relationship construction condition (or do not conform tothe relationship non-construction condition), by the conditiondetermining unit 111 (step S133).

As the determination result of step S133, when the users A and B conformto the relationship construction condition (or do not conform to therelationship non-construction condition), the server apparatus 100automatically registers the users A and B as the friends (step S134).Meanwhile, as the determination result of step S133, when the users Aand B do not conform to the relationship construction condition (orconform to the relationship non-construction condition), the serverapparatus 100 blocks the automatic relationship registration of theusers A and B as the friends, by the restricting unit 112. That is, whenthe users A and B do not conform to the relationship constructioncondition (or conform to the relationship non-construction condition),the server apparatus 100 skips the processing of step S134.

The automatic relationship construction processing using the specifictime base information is exemplified. For example, the server apparatus100 may determine the friend registration using a time when the usershave had a predetermined relationship as a base. Specifically, theserver apparatus 100 may collate a career such as an educationalbackground and a professional background of the user of thedetermination object of the friend registration and a career such as aneducational background and a professional background of the user of theprocessing object and determine which community the friend belongs to,by the condition determining unit 111. For example, if the user A doesnot hope for connections with friends of a public school because ofbitter experience of public school days and registers the friends of thepublic school as the restriction information, the server apparatus 100determines whether the user B goes to the same public school as the userA, from the career of the user B. If the user B goes to the same publicschool as the user A, the server apparatus 100 blocks the friendregistration of the user B by the restricting unit 112, such that theuser B is not registered as the friend. For example, if the user A doesnot hope for connections with users who go to a school in which the userhas failed an entrance examination or are graduated from the school andregisters the corresponding users as the restriction information, whenthe users to be automatically registered as the friends go to the schoolor are graduated from the school, the server apparatus 100 blocks thefriend registration of the users by the restricting unit 112, such thatthe users are not registered as the friends.

For example, the server apparatus 100 may determine the friendregistration using a past activity history on the service as a base.Specifically, the server apparatus 100 may determine personality of theuser on the service from a time when the user has participated in theservice or the contribution frequency, by the condition determining unit111. For example, if the user A does not hope for a connection with acore user who is active on the service and registers the core user asthe restriction information, the server apparatus 100 determines whetherthe user B is the core user, from the past activity history of the userB on the service. If the user B is determined as the core user, theserver apparatus 100 blocks the friend registration by the restrictingunit 112, such that the users A and B are not automatically registeredas the friends. In this case, the server apparatus 100 may determinewhether the user is the core user or not, using the login frequency withrespect to the service and the contribution frequency with respect tothe service. The server apparatus 100 may determine whether the user isthe core user or not, according to whether the login frequency or thecontribution frequency is more than a predetermined threshold value ornot.

For example, the server apparatus 100 may determine the friendregistration using a past activity history in the real world, not on theservice, as a base. Specifically, the server apparatus 100 may calculateinformation regarding the length of a time period during which the userof the processing object and the user of the determination object of thefriend registration are in the same place, on the basis of locationinformation of each user, and determine the length of the time periodduring which the user of the processing object and the user of thedetermination object of the friend registration are in the same place,by the condition determining unit 111. For example, if the user A doesnot hope for a connection with a user (for example, a co-worker of acompany or a classmate of a school) who is typically in the same placeon weekdays and registers the corresponding user as the restrictioninformation, the server apparatus 100 determines whether the user B isthe user who is typically in the same place on weekdays, from thelocation information of the user B. When it is determined that the userB is the user who is typically in the same place on weekdays, the serverapparatus 100 blocks the friend registration by the restricting unit112, such that the users A and B are not registered as the friends. Theserver apparatus 100 may use the number of times of check-in at the sameplace in the past in the service provided by the server apparatus 100 asthe past activity history in the real world. In this case, the check-inmeans the contribution action by the user when the user visits arestaurant, a shop, or an institution.

In this case, an example of a configuration to determine the length ofthe time period during which the user of the processing object and theuser of the determination object of the friend registration are in thesame place will be described. FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating aconfiguration example of the information processing system 1 accordingto the embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 12 illustrates anaspect where each of the terminal apparatus 200 a used by the user A andthe terminal apparatus 200 b used by the user B regularly transmitsinformation of a current location acquired by the location acquiringunit 214 to the server apparatus 100. The sever apparatus 100 constructsa database in the information storage unit 140, using the information ofthe current location transmitted from the terminal apparatuses 200 a and200 b. The database that is constructed by the server apparatus 100 is adatabase using presence or absence of the friend relationship and usinga time period during which the users are in the same place (time periodduring which the terminal apparatuses 200 a and 200 b are in apredetermined range) as a base.

The server apparatus 100 acquires the information of the currentlocation from the terminal apparatus used by each user and constructsthe database using the information of the current location, so that theserver apparatus 100 can determine the length of the time period duringwhich the user of the object of the automatic friend registrationprocessing and the user of the determination object of the friendregistration are in the same place. The configuration to determine thelength of the time period during which the user of the processing objectand the user of the determination object of the friend registration arein the same place is not limited to the example illustrated in FIG. 12.In the example illustrated in FIG. 12, the database is constructed bythe server apparatus 100 executing the service. However, the databasemay be constructed by another apparatus.

The server apparatus 100 can block the friend registration by therestricting unit 112, such that the users that the user does not hopefor the automatic friend registration with are not automaticallyregistered as the friends. In this case, the server apparatus 100 maygenerate a list of users in which the friend registration has beenrestricted, by the restricting unit 112, and cause list information tobe readable anytime. Each user may select the user whom each user doesnot want to restrict, from the list of users generated by the serverapparatus 100, using each terminal apparatus, and release therestriction of the user. With respect to the restriction processing suchas the restriction based on the past time history in which a conditionis not uniform, the server apparatus 100 may learn the release of therestriction performed manually by the user and improve precision.

As described above, when the automatic friend registration is performed,the server apparatus 100 may determine whether the automatic friendregistration is accepted, by a comparison with a face image registeredby the user in advance. The determination processing on whether theautomatic friend registration is accepted using the face imageregistered by the user in advance will be described in detail below.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of the serverapparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure. Theflowchart of FIG. 13 illustrates the operation example when the serverapparatus 100 determines whether the automatic friend registration isaccepted, by the comparison with the face image registered by the userin advance. Hereinafter, the operation example of the server apparatus100 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure will bedescribed using FIG. 13.

The server apparatus 100 registers a favorite face image designated bythe user as the restriction information of the user in the informationstorage unit 140 (step S141). Next, when a certain user (user A) and adifferent second user (user B) satisfy the condition of the automaticfriend registration, first, the server apparatus 100 acquires the faceimage registered as the user information of the user B in theinformation storage unit 140, by the condition determining unit 111(step S142). Next, the server apparatus 100 compares the favorite faceimage registered by step S141 and designated by the user and the faceimage acquired by step S142 and registered by the user B, by thecondition determining unit 111 (step S143).

The server apparatus 100 performs the comparison of the face images inthe condition determining unit 111 as follows. The server apparatus 100analyzes the registered face images, digitizes features, associates thefeatures, and stores the association result in the information storageunit 140. Examples of the features of the face images include a distancebetween a left eye and a right eye, sizes of the eyes, a distance fromthe eyes to the top of a nose, a position of a mouth, and a size of themouth. In this case, the distance and the size may be normalized on thebasis of the distance between the eyes.

The server apparatus 100 determines whether the favorite face imageregistered by step S141 and designated by the user and the face imageacquired by step S142 and registered by the user B are similar by apredetermined value or more, by the condition determining unit 111 (stepS144). The sever apparatus 100 may use a mean square of the differenceas the determination standard of the similarity in step S144

As the determination result of step S144, if the two face images aresimilar by the threshold value or more, the server apparatus 100automatically registers the users A and B as the friends, by thecondition determining unit 111 (step S145). Meanwhile, as thedetermination result of step S144, if the two face images are notsimilar by the threshold value or more, the processing of step S145 isskipped. That is, if the two face images are not similar by thethreshold value or more, the server apparatus 100 blocks the automaticregistration of the friend relationship of the users A and B, by therestricting unit 112.

The server apparatus 100 operates as described above and can execute theautomatic registration of the friend relationship with respect to onlythe users having the faces similar to the favorite face of the user,even when the users satisfy the condition of the automatic friendregistration. That is, the server apparatus 100 can restrict theautomatic relationship of the friend relationship with respect to theusers having the faces different from the favorite face of the user.

In the example described above, the server apparatus 100 determineswhether or not to restrict the automatic registration of the friendrelationship by comparing the entire face images. However, the serverapparatus 100 may determine whether or not to restrict the automaticregistration of the friend relationship by comparing images of parts ofthe favorite face of the user (for example, eye images, a nose image,and a mouth image), not the entire face images. The server apparatus 100may cause the user to register an image of a least favorite face inadvance and restrict the automatic registration of the friendrelationship, when an image of a face is similar to the image of theface registered as the least favorite face by a predetermined thresholdvalue or more.

The server apparatus 100 may compare the face image of the userregistered by the user in advance and a face image of a different userand determine whether or not to restrict the automatic registration ofthe friend relationship. The server apparatus 100 can restrict peoplewhose faces are similar to the face of the user and restrict theautomatic registration of the friend relationship with users whose facesare similar to the face of the user, such as a family or relatives. Incontrast, the server apparatus 100 can restrict the automaticregistration of the friend relationship with users whose faces are notsimilar to the face of the user.

If the face image of the user registered by the user in advance and animage including a plurality of persons including the corresponding userare registered on the service, the server apparatus 100 may restrict theautomatic registration of the friend relationship using the images ofthe plurality of persons. For example, the server apparatus 100 maydetermine persons who are apart from the face of the certain user A by apredetermined distance or more in a group photo including the pluralityof persons, as users who are not so close to the user A, and restrictthe automatic registration of the friend relationship with the user A.When a distance of the face of the certain user A and a face of adifferent user is calculated, the server apparatus 100 may normalize thedistance between the faces with the size of the face of the user A.

The server apparatus 100 may restrict the automatic registration of thefriend relationship by analysis of an image of an object, in addition toanalysis of the face image. FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating anoperation example of the server apparatus 100 according to theembodiment of the present disclosure. The flowchart of FIG. 14illustrates the operation example when the server apparatus 100determines whether the automatic friend registration is accepted, bycomparison with the image of the object registered by the user inadvance. Hereinafter, the operation example of the server apparatus 100according to the embodiment of the present disclosure will be describedusing FIG. 14.

The server apparatus 100 registers an image of a predetermined object (asignboard, a building, and scenery) designated by the user asrestriction information of the corresponding user in the informationstorage unit 140 (step S151). Next, when a certain user (user A) and adifferent second user (user B) satisfy the condition of the automaticfriend registration, first, the server apparatus 100 acquires the imageregistered as the user information of the user B in the informationstorage unit 140, by the condition determining unit 111 (step S152).Next, the server apparatus 100 compares the image of the predeterminedobject registered by step S151 and designated by the user A and theimage acquired by step S152 and registered by the user B, by thecondition determining unit 111 (step S153).

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example of the image of thepredetermined object designated by the user A. In the image illustratedin FIG. 15, a region Al where a name of an event is written to asignboard exists. The sever apparatus 100 sets the region Al as acomparison object and executes the comparison processing of step S153.

The server apparatus 100 determines whether the image of thepredetermined object registered by step S151 and designated by the userA and the image acquired by step S152 and registered by the user B aresimilar by a predetermined threshold value or more, by the conditiondetermining unit 111 (step S154) When the images are compared, thecondition determining unit 111 may compare histograms of brightness orshape patterns and determine a similar degree of the two images.

As the determination result of step S154, if the two images are similarby the threshold value or more, the server apparatus 100 automaticallyregisters the users A and B as the friends, by the condition determiningunit 111 (step S155) Meanwhile, as the determination result of stepS154, if the two images are not similar by the threshold value or more,the processing of step S155 is skipped. That is, if the two images arenot similar by the threshold value or more, the server apparatus 100blocks the automatic registration of the friend relationship of theusers A and B, by the restricting unit 112. If the two images are notsimilar by the threshold value or more, the server apparatus 100 mayperform the automatic registration of the friend relationship of theusers A and B by the condition determining unit 111 and if the twoimages are similar by the threshold value or more, the server apparatus100 may block the automatic registration of the friend relationship ofthe users A and B, by the restricting unit 112.

The server apparatus 100 operates as described above and can performcontrol such that the users participated in the same place or event areautomatically registered as the friends or are not automaticallyregistered as the friends. In this case, when the image registered asthe restriction information by step S151 is an image of a peripheralportion of a home of the user, the server apparatus 100 can block theautomatic block of the friend relationship with respect to users whohave registered images similar to the image in the server apparatus 100.Thereby, the server apparatus 100 can block the automatic registrationof the friend relationship with respect to users who live around thehome of the user.

When each terminal apparatus can acquire biological information of theuser using a sensor 218, the server apparatus 100 may restrict theautomatic registration of the friend relationship using the biologicalinformation as the restriction information. FIG. 16 is a flowchartillustrating an operation example of the server apparatus 100 accordingto the embodiment of the present disclosure. The flowchart of FIG. 16illustrates the operation example when the server apparatus 100determines whether the automatic friend registration is accepted, bycomparison with the biological information registered by the user inadvance. Hereinafter, the operation example of the server apparatus 100according to the embodiment of the present disclosure will be describedusing FIG. 16.

When the user A designates information of a heart rate (for example, theheart rate is 120 or more) as the restriction information, the serverapparatus 100 registers the information of the heart rate as therestriction information of the user A in the information storage unit140 (step S161). Next, the server apparatus 100 first acquires thebiological information (heart rate) of the user B acquired by the sensor218 of the terminal apparatus of the user B as the user information ofthe second user (user B), by the condition determining unit 111 (stepS162). Next, the server apparatus 100 compares the informationregistered by step S161 and set as the restriction information and theradio field intensity from the terminal apparatus of the user B and thebiological information of the user B acquired by step S162, by thecondition determining unit 111 (step S163). For example, a predeterminedsignal may be transmitted from the terminal apparatus of the user B andthe distance between the users A and B may be measured by the radiofield intensity of the signal.

When the distance between the two users becomes shorter than apredetermined distance, the server apparatus 100 determines whether theheart rate of the user B becomes equal to or more than the predeterminedheart rate registered by step S161 (step S164). As the determinationresult of step S164, if the heart rate of the user B is equal to or morethan the predetermined heart rate registered by step S161, the serverapparatus 100 automatically registers the users A and B as the friends,by the condition determining unit 111 (step S165). Meanwhile, as thedetermination result of step S164, if the heart rate of the user B isless than the predetermined heart rate registered by step S161, theprocessing of step S165 is skipped. That is, if the heart rate of theuser B is less than the predetermined heart rate registered by stepS161, the server apparatus 100 blocks the automatic registration of thefriend relationship of the users A and B by the restricting unit 112.

By the above-described operation, when the user A comes close to theuser B and the heart rate of the user B increases, the server apparatus100 determines that the user B is favorable to the user A or isinterested in the user A and can automatically register the users A andB as the friends. Meanwhile, when the user A comes close to the user Band the heart rate of the user B does not increase, the server apparatus100 determines that the user B is not interested in the user A and canblock the friend relationship of the users A and B, such that the usersA and B are not automatically registered as the friends.

In the example described above, the sever apparatus 100 determineswhether the automatic relationship registration is accepted, using thebiological information obtained from the sensor provided in the terminalapparatus. However, when the biological information is not obtained, theserver apparatus 100 may determine whether the automatic friendregistration is accepted, using the information registered in the serverapparatus 100 by each user. For example, when the user uses the serviceto search for a girlfriend, the friend application to the users havingthe same sex is meaningless. Therefore, the server apparatus 100 mayrestrict the automatic friend registration with respect to the usershaving the same sex. For example, if the preference of the user is awoman younger than 30 years, the server apparatus 100 may restrict theautomatic friend registration with respect to a female user, when thefemale user is older than 30 years. For example, if the user uses theservice to share a trouble with people troubled with a specific disease,the friend relationship with people who do not have a medical history ofthe certain disease is meaningless. Therefore, the server apparatus 100may restrict the automatic friend registration with respect to suchusers.

The server apparatus 100 may restrict the automatic registration of thefriend relationship using language-related information such as sentencesregistered on the service. FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating anoperation example of the server apparatus 100 according to theembodiment of the present disclosure. The flowchart of FIG. 17illustrates the operation example when the server apparatus 100determines whether the automatic friend registration is accepted, byanalyzing the language-related information such as the sentencesregistered on the service. Hereinafter, the operation example of theserver apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the presentdisclosure will be described using FIG. 17.

The server apparatus 100 registers a predetermined restriction phrasedesignated by the user as restriction information of the user in theinformation storage unit 140 (step S171). For example, a user who is notinterested in a railroad can register a route name of the railroad or apet name of a passenger train of the railroad as the restriction phrasein the server apparatus 100 to prevent the user from being automaticallyregistered as the friends with a user who is interested in the railroad.

Next, when a certain user (user A) and a different second user (user B)satisfy the condition of the automatic friend registration, first, theserver apparatus 100 acquires document information registered as userinformation of the user B in the information storage unit 140, by thecondition determining unit 111 (step S172). As the document informationregistered in the information storage unit 140, for example, content ofan e-mail transmitted by the user B, content of a sentence contributedto a signboard, a blog, and a short sentence contribution site by theuser B, and information obtained by digitizing a telephone signal may beincluded.

Next, the server apparatus 100 compares the predetermined restrictionphrase registered by step S171 and designated by the user and thedocument information acquired by step S172 and registered by the user B,by the condition determining unit 111 (step S173). As the comparisonresult of the predetermined restriction phrase registered by step S171and designated by the user and the document information acquired by stepS172 and registered by the user B, the server apparatus 100 determineswhether the restriction phrase appears in the document informationregistered by the user B by the predetermined frequency or more, by thecondition determining unit 111 (step S174).

As the determination result of step S174, if the appearance frequency ofthe restriction phrase in the document information registered by theuser B is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value, theserver apparatus 100 automatically registers the users A and B as thefriends, by the condition determining unit 111 (step S175). Meanwhile,as the determination result of step S174, if the appearance frequency ofthe restriction phrase in the document information registered by theuser B is more than a predetermined threshold value, the processing ofstep S175 is skipped. That is, the server apparatus 100 blocks theautomatic registration of the friend relationship of the users A and Bby the restricting unit 112.

The server apparatus 100 may use obscene words or rude words as therestriction phrase. By using the obscene words or the rude words as therestriction phrase, the server apparatus 100 can restrict the friendregistration to prevent the automatic registration as the friends withusers using such words for young users in particular.

The server apparatus 100 may specify participating in the same eventfrom the document information registered by the user and restrict thefriend registration, such that the corresponding user is notautomatically registered as the friends (or registered as the friends)with users who participate in the same event.

The server apparatus 100 may register a reply history of an e-mail ofthe user or the number of characters in the e-mail as the restrictioninformation. The server apparatus 100 can specify users who receive ane-mail but, rarely reply to the e-mail or return an e-mail including thesmall number of characters even though the users reply to the e-mail,from a history of the e-mail, and restrict the friend registration, suchthat the corresponding user is not automatically registered as thefriends with such users.

If a chatting function is provided in the service, the server apparatus100 may acquire chatting content as document information. At this time,the server apparatus 100 may restrict the friend registration, such thatthe user is not automatically registered as the friends with users, in aunit of group, not a unit of user. For example, the server apparatus 100may acquire a restriction phrase registered by the user in advance andcontent remarked by a user to be registered as the friend and all remarkcontent of chatting performed in a group to which the corresponding userbelongs and determine whether to perform the automatic friendregistration or restrict the automatic friend registration in a unit ofgroup.

Next, an operation example of the server apparatus 100 when the usersare temporarily registered as the friends will be described. Forexample, during only a period of time in which a user participates in apredetermined event such as an exhibition, a company briefing session,and a drinking session, the server apparatus 100 may temporarilyregister the user as friends with users participating in the same event.This operation mode of the server apparatus 100 is called a “temporaryconnection mode”. A mode that is not the “temporary connection mode” iscalled a “normal mode”. The server apparatus 100 can temporarilyregister the users participating in the same event as the friends to beused in a realistic connection between the users such as business cardexchange or a real friend application.

When the users are temporarily registered as the friends, the serverapparatus 100 may set the rank of the connection. That is, if there is afriend common to a certain user and a user temporarily registered as afriend, the server apparatus 100 may set the rank of the connection ofthe user temporarily registered as the friend high. If there is nofriend common to the certain user and the user temporarily registered asthe friend, the server apparatus 100 may set the rank of the connectionof the user temporarily registered as the friend low.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of the serverapparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure. Theflowchart of FIG. 18 illustrates the operation example when the serverapparatus 100 operates in the temporary connection mode. Hereinafter,the operation example of the server apparatus 100 according to theembodiment of the present disclosure will be described using FIG. 18.

The server apparatus 100 sets a predetermined condition of temporary“restriction” or “connection rank”, on the basis of an instruction fromthe user (step S181). In this case, the condition that is set by theserver apparatus 100 may be changed according to an event in which theuser participates. The condition that is set by the server apparatus 100may be changed at timing when the user participates in the event or maybe downloaded from a near field communication (NFC) terminal at an eventsite.

For example, in the case of an event such as a party, the serverapparatus 100 may set a yearly income, a sex, and a native place as therestriction information for each user. In the case of an event such as ajob fair, the server apparatus 100 may set a language test score, adesired type of job, and qualifications that the user has as therestriction information for each user.

The server apparatus 100 operates in the temporary connection mode withrespect to only the users who have participated in the event describedabove and operates in the normal mode with respect to the other users.

FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating an example of the restrictioninformation or the connection rank set by the user, when the serverapparatus 100 operates in the temporary connection mode. In FIG. 19, anexample of the case in which the automatic registration as the friend istemporarily restricted when the user is male and a registration state asthe friend is controlled by three connection ranks when the user isfemale is illustrated. In FIG. 19, the connection rank 1 shows a user inwhich the friend registration has been completed, the connection rank 2shows a user who is registered as a friend of the friend or belongs to aspecific group or company, and the connection rank 3 shows the otherusers.

FIG. 19 illustrates disclosure restriction of self-information and adisplay item of a user list to be described below. In the case of theconnection rank 1, all information is disclosed to a partner and a nameis displayed in the user list. In the case of the connection rank 2,basic information and contribution content to the service are disclosedto the partner and a name, a community, and a common friend aredisplayed in the user list. For example, the basic information refers toa name, a sex, and a community. In the case of the connection rank 3,only the basic information is disclosed to the partner and a name and acommunity are displayed in the user list.

In step S181 if the server apparatus 100 sets the predeterminedcondition of the temporary “restriction” or the “connection rank”, onthe basis of the instruction from the user, the server apparatus 100registers the location information transmitted from each user using theterminal apparatus (step S182). Next, the sever apparatus 100 starts theoperation in the temporary connection mode, automatically on the basisof the registration of the location information or on the basis of theinstruction from the user (step S183). When the server apparatus 100operates in the temporary connection mode, the server apparatus 100 mayoperate in the normal mode in parallel to the temporary connection modeand stop the operation in the normal mode.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of theinformation processing system 1 according to the embodiment of thepresent disclosure. The flowchart of FIG. 20 illustrates an exchangeoperation of information between the users, when the server apparatus100 operates in the temporary connection mode. Hereinafter, theoperation example of the information processing system 1 according tothe embodiment of the present disclosure will be described using FIG.20.

When the server apparatus 100 operates in the temporary connection mode,the setting condition such as the previously set restriction informationis transmitted from the terminal apparatus 200 a used by the user A tothe terminal apparatus 200 b used by the user B through the serverapparatus 100 (step S191).

The terminal apparatus 200 b that is used by the user B determineswhether the user information of the user B satisfies the predeterminedcondition of the condition set by the user A (step S192). As thedetermination result of step S192, if the user information of the user Bsatisfies the predetermined condition of the condition set by the userA, the terminal apparatus 200 b transmits the user information of theuser B for the user list to the terminal apparatus 200 a through theserver apparatus 100 (step S193) The user information of the user B forthe user list may not be held in the terminal apparatus 200 b. When theuser information of the user B for the user list is not held in theterminal apparatus 200 b, the user information of the user B for theuser list is directly transmitted from the server apparatus 100 to theterminal apparatus 200 a. The terminal apparatus 200 a receives the userinformation of the user B for the user list that is transmitted from theterminal apparatus 200 b through the server apparatus 100 (step S194).

Next, the terminal apparatus 200 a determines whether the userinformation of the user B satisfies the predetermined condition of thecondition set by the user A (step S195). As the determination result ofstep S195, if the user information of the user B satisfies thepredetermined condition of the condition set by the user A, the terminalapparatus 200 a transmits the user information of the user A for theuser list to the terminal apparatus 200 b through the server apparatus100 (step S196). The user information of the user A for the user listmay not be held in the terminal apparatus 200 a. When the userinformation of the user A for the user list is not held in the terminalapparatus 200 a, the user information of the user A for the user list isdirectly transmitted from the server apparatus 100 to the terminalapparatus 200 b. The terminal apparatus 200 b receives the userinformation of the user A for the user list that is transmitted from theterminal apparatus 200 a through the server apparatus 100 (step S197).

As the determination result of step S192, if the user information of theuser B does not satisfy the predetermined condition of the condition setby the user A, the terminal apparatus 200 b ends the processing withoutreplying to the terminal apparatus 200 a. Likewise, as the determinationresult of step S195, if the user information of the user B does notsatisfy the predetermined condition of the condition set by the user A,the terminal apparatus 200 a ends the processing without replying to theterminal apparatus 200 b.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of theinformation processing system 1 according to the embodiment of thepresent disclosure. The flowchart of FIG. 21 is a continuation of theflowchart of FIG. 20 and illustrates an exchange operation ofinformation between the users, when the server apparatus 100 operates inthe temporary connection mode. Hereinafter, the operation example of theinformation processing system 1 according to the embodiment of thepresent disclosure will be described using FIG. 21.

The terminal apparatus 200 a determines whether a request for detailedinformation is transmitted from the user B, after the users A and Bexchange the user information for the user list (step S201). As thedetermination result of step S201, when the request for the detailedinformation is transmitted from the user B, the terminal apparatus 200 atransmits the detailed information according to the predeterminedcondition of the setting condition to the terminal apparatus 200 bthrough the server apparatus 100 (step S202). The detailed informationof the user B may not be held in the terminal apparatus 200 b. When thedetailed information of the user B is not held in the terminal apparatus200 b, the detailed information of the user B is directly transmittedfrom the server apparatus 100 to the terminal apparatus 200 a.

The kind of the information that is transmitted by step S202 is selectedaccording to the connection rank. A disclosure range of the detailedinformation is defined by the “disclosure restriction of theself-information” in the setting condition illustrated in FIG. 19. Theprocessing of step S202 is automatically executed even when there is noselection operation of the user. However, a log showing that thedetailed information has been transmitted may be stored in the serverapparatus 100.

Meanwhile, as the determination result of step S201, if the request forthe detailed information is not transmitted from the user B, theterminal apparatus 200 a skips the processing of step S202.

As such, the information processing system 1 according to the embodimentof the present disclosure executes the information acquisitionprocessing of the two steps including the acquisition processing of theuser information for making the user list and the acquisition processingof the detailed information, so that the information processing system 1can suppress an amount of communication when the user information isexchanged.

Next, an example of display processing of the user list in the temporaryconnection mode will be described. FIG. 22 is a flowchart illustratingan operation example of the information processing system 1 according tothe embodiment of the present disclosure. The flowchart of FIG. 22illustrates an example of the display processing of the user list in theterminal apparatus, when the server apparatus 100 operates in thetemporary connection mode. The user list is a list of users who haveexchanged the user information for the user list. Information regardingthe users who have exchanged the user information for the user list isheld in the server apparatus 100. Hereinafter, the operation example ofthe information processing system 1 according to the embodiment of thepresent disclosure will be described using FIG. 22.

The processing of steps S191 and S194 illustrated in FIG. 20 is executedby the terminal apparatus 200 a of the user A and it is determined instep S195 whether the user information of another user satisfies thepredetermined condition. When the user information of the user Bsatisfies the predetermined condition, the terminal apparatus 200 aexecutes the display processing of the user list according to thepredetermined condition (step S203). The processing of step S203 isexecuted according to the connection rank.

FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating an example of a user list displayed onthe terminal apparatus 200 a. In FIG. 23, an example of a user listshowing information of four users (users B, C, D, and E) is disclosed.That is, FIG. 23 illustrates the case in which the user A exchanges theuser information for the user list with the four users. FIG. 23illustrates an example of the case in which information of a connectionrank, a community, and a common friend of each user is displayed as theuser list. In FIG. 23, when viewed from the user A, the connection rankof each of the users B and C is 1, the connection rank of the user D is2, and the connection rank of the user E is 3. In FIG. 23, a communityand a common friend of the user D are illustrated as for the user D andonly a community of the user E is illustrated as for the user E.

The display example of the user list in the terminal apparatus 200 a isnot limited to the above example. For example, the terminal apparatus200 a may overlap the user information to an image, using AR (augmentedreality) technology. FIG. 24 is a diagram illustrating an example of auser list that is displayed on the terminal apparatus 200 a. Theterminal apparatus 200 a may display the user list illustrated in FIG.24, on the basis of location information or acceleration information.When the terminal apparatus 200 a overlaps the user information to theimage using the AR technology, only the user information displayed on ascreen is displayed. When the connection rank is the predetermined rank,the terminal apparatus 200 a may emphasize and display the correspondinguser. For example, when the connection rank of the user reaches thepredetermined rank, the terminal apparatus 200 a may perform displaysurrounding the corresponding user, as shown by reference numerals B1and B2. When the connection rank is the predetermined rank, the terminalapparatus 200 a may cause any display item (in the example illustratedin FIG. 24, information of a community of the user) to be displayed withrespect to the user.

Next, an example of acquisition processing of detailed user informationin the temporary connection mode will be described. FIG. 25 is aflowchart illustrating an operation example of the informationprocessing system 1 according to the embodiment of the presentdisclosure. The flowchart of FIG. 25 illustrates an example of theacquisition processing of the detailed user information in the terminalapparatus, when the server apparatus 100 operates in the temporaryconnection mode. Hereinafter, the operation example of the informationprocessing system 1 according to the embodiment of the presentdisclosure will be described using FIG. 25.

After the display processing of the user list is executed by theterminal apparatus 200 a, if another desired user is selected from theuser list by the user A (step S211), the terminal apparatus 200 ainquires of the server apparatus 100 for detailed information of anotheruser selected by the user A (step S212).

The server apparatus 100 transmits the detailed information of anotheruser selected by the user A to the terminal apparatus 200 a in responseto the inquiry and the terminal apparatus 200 a receives the detailedinformation of another user selected by the user A from the serverapparatus 100 and displays the detailed information (step S213).

Next, the terminal apparatus 200 a causes the user A to determinewhether or not to register another user whose detailed information hasbeen acquired as a friend (step S214). When the user A selects friendregistration of another user whose detailed information has beenacquired, the terminal apparatus 200 a applies to another user whosedetailed information has been acquired for a friend relationship, on thebasis of the selection of the user A (step S215). The server apparatus100 registers the user A and another user as the friends, on the basisof the friend application from the terminal apparatus 200 a. Meanwhile,when the user A does not select the friend registration of another userwhose detailed information has been acquired, the terminal apparatus 200a skips the processing of step S215, on the basis of the selection ofthe user A.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 25, the terminal apparatus 200 acauses the user A to determine whether or not to apply to another userwhose detailed information has been acquired for a friend relationship.However, the present disclosure is not limited to the above example. Forexample, the server apparatus 100 may execute processing such thatanother user whose detailed information has been acquired by the user Ais automatically registered as the friend with the user A.

When the server apparatus 100 operates in the temporary connection mode,if a certain user (for example, the user A) transmits detailedinformation to another user, a terminal apparatus (for example, theterminal apparatus 200 a used by the user A) may update informationshowing whether the detailed information has been completelytransmitted, in the user list.

FIG. 26 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of theinformation processing system 1 according to the embodiment of thepresent disclosure. The flowchart of FIG. 26 illustrates processingexecuted subsequent to processing illustrated in FIG. 22 and illustratesan example of update processing of the user list in the terminalapparatus, when the server apparatus 100 operates in the temporaryconnection mode. Hereinafter, the operation example of the informationprocessing system 1 according to the embodiment of the presentdisclosure will be described using FIG. 26.

The terminal apparatus 200 a that is used by the user A determineswhether or not to transmit detailed information of the user A to otherusers (step S216). When the detailed information of the user A istransmitted to other users, the terminal apparatus 200 a updates theuser list (step S217). Specifically, the terminal apparatus 200 aupdates information showing that the detailed information of the user Ahas been transmitted to other users, in the user list.

FIG. 27 is a diagram illustrating an example of the user list that isdisplayed on the terminal apparatus 200 a. In FIG. 27, an example of auser list showing information of four users (users B, C, D, and E) isdisclosed. FIG. 27 illustrates an example of the case in whichinformation of a connection rank, a community, and a common friend ofeach user is displayed as the user list.

FIG. 27 illustrates an example of a state in which information showingwhether or not to transmit detailed information is updated in the userlist. In the example illustrated in FIG. 27, because the users B and Care already registered as the friends, it can be known that the detailedinformation of the user A is disclosed to the users B and C. Becausethere is an inquiry of the detailed information from the user D, it canbe known that the user A responds to the inquiry. Further, it can beknown that there is no inquiry of the detailed information from the userE.

Next, end processing of the temporary connection mode will be described.FIG. 28 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of theinformation processing system 1 according to the embodiment of thepresent disclosure. The flowchart of FIG. 28 illustrates processingexecuted subsequent to the processing illustrated in FIG. 21 andillustrates an example of the end processing of the temporary connectionmode. Hereinafter, the operation example of the information processingsystem 1 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure will bedescribed using FIG. 28.

The server apparatus 100 determines whether the user leaves a previouslyregistered location where the temporary connection mode is executed(step S221). The server apparatus 100 may determine whether the userleaves the location, on the basis of whether check-out processing isexecuted by the terminal apparatus possessed by the user or not orinformation of a current location acquired by the terminal apparatus.

As the determination result of step S221, if the user leaves thepreviously registered location where the temporary connection mode isexecuted, the server apparatus 100 resets the operation in the temporaryconnection mode for the corresponding user (step S222). Meanwhile, asthe determination result of step S221, if the user does not leave thepreviously registered location where the temporary connection mode isexecuted, the server apparatus 100 continuously executes the operationin the temporary connection mode for the corresponding user.

The server apparatus 100 changes the operation mode to the normal mode,for the user for which the operation in the temporary connection modehas been reset. When the operation is performed in the temporaryconnection mode in parallel to the normal mode, the server apparatus 100continuously executes the operation in the normal mode, for the user forwhich the operation in the temporary connection mode has been reset.

Even when the server apparatus 100 uses any restriction informationdescribed above, the server apparatus 100 may block the friendregistration by the restricting unit 112, such that the users that thecorresponding user does not hope for the automatic friend registrationwith are not automatically registered as the friends. In this case, theserver apparatus 100 may generate a list of users in which the friendregistration has been restricted, by the restricting unit 112, and causelist information to be readable anytime. Each user may select the userswhom each user does not want to restrict, from the list generated by theserver apparatus 100, using each terminal apparatus, and release therestriction of the users. With respect to the restriction processingsuch as the restriction based on the past time history or therestriction based on the favorite face image, in which the condition isnot uniform, the server apparatus 100 may learn the release of therestriction performed manually by the user and improve precision.

The operation example of the server apparatus 100 when the users aretemporarily registered as the friends has been described. By executingthe operation described above, the server apparatus 100 can register theusers who participate in the specific event as the friends temporarily.When the server apparatus 100 registers the user and the certain user asthe friends temporarily, the server apparatus 100 can set the rank ofthe friend according to the state of the user to be registered as thefriend.

<2. Conclusion>

As described above, according to the embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the server apparatus 100 realizes construction ofconnections between the users. The server apparatus 100 constructs theconnections between the users and enables information to be sharedbetween the users. In this embodiment, the server apparatus 100 providesa service for automatically registering the users who have satisfied thepredetermined condition as the friends and enabling information to beshared between the users who have made a friendship with each other, tothe users.

According to the embodiment of the present disclosure, when the serverapparatus 100 automatically registers the users who have satisfied thepredetermined condition as the friends, the server apparatus 100compares the user information of the user to be registered as the friendand the restriction information registered by the user in advance. Ifthe information matched with the restriction information registered bythe user in advance and adapted to the condition exists in the userinformation of the user to be registered as the friend, the serverapparatus 100 restricts the automatic registration of the user as thefriend, even though the user satisfies the predetermined condition forthe automatic registration as the friend.

According to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the user can beprevented from being automatically connected to the partners that theuser does not hope for the connections with, in the service forconstructing the social connections on the Internet.

In addition, each step in a process executed by each unit of the presentspecification is not necessarily performed along the order described ina sequence diagram of a flowchart, for example, in a time series manner.Each of the steps in a process executed by each unit may be performed,for example, in an order different from the order described in theflowchart, or performed in parallel.

In addition, in hardware including a CPU, a ROM, RAM, and the like thatis installed in each device, a computer program for exhibiting the samefunctions as those of each device can also be stored. In addition, astorage medium in which the computer program is stored can be provided.In addition, by configuring each functional block shown in thefunctional block diagram as hardware, a series of processes can berealized in hardware.

It should be understood by those skilled in the art that variousmodifications, combinations, sub-combinations and alterations may occurdepending on design requirements and other factors insofar as they arewithin the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof

Additionally, the present technology may also be configured as below.

(1) An Information Processing Apparatus Including:

-   -   a condition determining unit that changes, when information of a        first user and information of a second user satisfy a        predetermined condition, a state from a first state in which        information sharing on a communication network is disabled        between a first terminal apparatus used by the first user and a        second terminal apparatus used by the second user to a second        state in which the information sharing is enabled; and    -   a restricting unit that restricts the change of the state from        the first state to the second state, on the basis of restriction        information that is acquired from the first terminal apparatus        and is used to restrict the change of the state from the first        state to the second state.

(2) The Information Processing Apparatus According to (1),

-   -   wherein the restricting unit determines whether or not to change        the state to the first state, using the information of the        second user acquired from the second terminal apparatus and the        restriction information acquired from the first terminal        apparatus.

(3) The Information Processing Apparatus According to (2),

-   -   wherein the restricting unit acquires evaluation information        with respect to information of each of the first user and the        second user.

(4) The Information Processing Apparatus According to (3),

-   -   wherein the restricting unit changes weighting applied to the        information of the second user, according to the evaluation        information, when the restricting unit determines whether or not        to change the state to the first state.

(5) The Information Processing Apparatus According to (4),

-   -   wherein the restricting unit changes the weighting according to        information regarding a user who has input the evaluation        information.

(6) The Information Processing Apparatus According to (5),

-   -   wherein the restricting unit changes the weighting, according to        an evaluation made by another user with respect to the user who        has input the evaluation information as the information        regarding the user who has input the evaluation information.

(7) The Information Processing Apparatus According to Any One of (3) to(6),

-   -   wherein, when the second user and a user who has input the        evaluation information satisfy the predetermined condition, the        restricting unit evaluates the information of the second user by        using the evaluation information.

(8) The Information Processing Apparatus According to any one of (3) to(7),

-   -   wherein, when the information of the second user is changed, the        restricting unit requests a user who has input the evaluation        information to evaluate the information of the second user        again.        (9) The Information Processing Apparatus According to any one        of (1) to (8), further Including:    -   an updating unit that automatically updates the information of        each of the first user and the second user, on the basis of an        action history of each of the first user and the second user.        (10) The Information Processing Apparatus According to any one        of (1) to (9), further Including:    -   a release setting unit that sets whether an item of the        information of each of the first user and the second user is        able to be released.

(11) The Information Processing Apparatus According to any one of (1) to(10),

-   -   wherein the restriction information that is acquired by the        restricting unit includes biological information.

(12) The Information Processing Apparatus According to any one of (1) to(11),

-   -   wherein the restriction information that is acquired by the        restricting unit includes information of a specific user and        information showing whether or not to change the state to the        first state.

(13) The Information Processing Apparatus According to any one of (1) to(12),

-   -   wherein the restriction information that is acquired by the        restricting unit is automatically generated from an operation        history in each of the first terminal apparatus and the second        terminal apparatus.

(14) The Information Processing Apparatus According to any one of (1) to(13),

-   -   wherein the restricting unit changes the state to a plurality of        states of different degrees to which information sharing is        enabled between the first terminal apparatus and the second        terminal apparatus, according to at least one of the restriction        information and the information of each of the first user and        the second user.

(15) The Information Processing Apparatus According to (14),

-   -   wherein the restricting unit changes the state to a state in        which more information is able to be shared between the first        terminal apparatus and the second terminal apparatus with        decrease in a restriction degree based on the restriction        information.

(16) The Information Processing Apparatus According to (14) or (15),

-   -   wherein the restricting unit changes a disclosure degree of the        information of each of the first user and the second user,        according to into which state of the plurality of states the        state is changed.

(17) A Computer Program for Causing a Computer to Execute:

-   -   changing, when information of a first user and information of a        second user satisfy a predetermined condition, a state from a        first state in which information sharing on a communication        network is disabled between a first terminal apparatus used by        the first user and a second terminal apparatus used by the        second user to a second state in which the information sharing        is enabled; and restricting the change of the state from the        first state to the second state, on the basis of restriction        information that is acquired from the first terminal apparatus        and is used to restrict the change of the state from the first        state to the second state.

(18) A Terminal Apparatus Including:

-   -   an input unit that, when information of a first user and        information of a second user satisfy a predetermined condition        and a state changes from a first state in which information        sharing on a communication network is disabled between a first        terminal apparatus used by the first user and a second terminal        apparatus used by the second user to a second state in which the        information sharing is enabled, inputs the information of the        first user and restriction information to restrict the change of        the first state.

(19) The Terminal Apparatus According to (18),

-   -   wherein the input unit inputs an evaluation with respect to        information of another user.    -   (20) The Terminal Apparatus According to (19),    -   wherein the input unit inputs an evaluation with respect to the        information of the other user who satisfies the predetermined        condition.

The present disclosure contains subject matter related to that disclosedin Japanese Priority Patent Application JP 2012-128771 filed in theJapan Patent Office on Jun. 6, 2012, the entire content of which ishereby incorporated by reference.

1. A server for controlling an information sharing state between a firstmobile phone and a second mobile phone via a network, the servercomprising: a network interface configured to communicate, via thenetwork, with the first mobile phone and the second mobile phone; amemory configured to store a predetermined distance data indicating apredetermined distance; and circuitry configured to receive, via thenetwork interface, a first Global Positioning System (GPS) signalindicating a current location of the first mobile phone, first userinformation indicating user information of a first user, and firstrestriction information indicating restriction information of the firstuser from the first mobile phone, the first GPS signal being obtained bythe first mobile phone using a GPS receiver in the first mobile phone;receive, via the network interface, a second GPS signal indicating acurrent location of the second mobile phone, second user informationindicating user information of a second user, and second restrictioninformation indicating restriction information of the second user fromthe second mobile phone, the second GPS signal being obtained by thesecond mobile phone using a GPS receiver in the second mobile phone;calculate a distance between the current location of the first mobilephone and the current location of the second mobile phone based on thereceived first GPS signal and the received second GPS signal; comparethe calculated distance with the predetermined distance indicated by thepredetermined distance data stored in the memory; change an informationsharing state between the first mobile phone and the second mobile phonevia the network from a first state in which information sharing via thenetwork between the first mobile phone and the second mobile phone isdisabled to a second state in which the information sharing is enabledbased on a comparison result obtained by the comparison; and restrictthe change of the information sharing state from the first state to thesecond state based on the first restriction information of the firstmobile phone and the second user information of the second mobile phone.2. The server according to claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configuredto change the information sharing state from the first state to thesecond state in case the calculated distance is less than or equal tothe predetermined distance.
 3. The server according to claim 1, whereinthe first restriction information includes age information and sexinformation.
 4. The server according to claim 1, wherein the second userinformation includes name information, sex information, age information,and image information of the second user.
 5. The server according toclaim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to store in the memoryfriend information of the second user.
 6. The server according to claim1, wherein the circuitry is configured to: set a rank from among aplurality of ranks of the information sharing state between the firstmobile phone and the second mobile phone via the network; and change anamount of information that can be shared between the first mobile phoneand the second mobile phone via the network according to the set rank.7. The server according to claim 6, wherein the circuitry is configuredto set the rank from among the plurality of ranks based on apredetermined condition.
 8. The server according to claim 1, wherein thecircuitry is configured to: identify common friend of the first user andthe second user; and in the second state, enable the first mobile phoneand the second mobile phone to access information on the common friendvia the network.
 9. The server according to claim 1, wherein thecircuitry is configured to transmit, via the network interface, a userlist including the first user information to the second mobile phone viathe network in the second state.
 10. The server according to claim 1,wherein the circuitry is configured to: receive, via the networkinterface, a request signal from the first mobile phone via the network;and change an amount of information that can be shared between the firstmobile phone and the second mobile phone via the network in response toreceiving the request signal.
 11. The server according to claim 10,wherein the circuitry is configured to: transmit, via the networkinterface, a user list including the first user information to thesecond mobile phone via the network in the second state; and update theuser list in response to receiving the request signal.
 12. The serveraccording to claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to: receive,via the network interface, a request signal from the first mobile phonevia the network; and change an amount of information that can be sharedbetween the first mobile phone and the second mobile phone via thenetwork in response to receiving the request signal only in case apredetermined condition is satisfied.
 13. The server according to claim1, wherein the circuitry is configured to receive, via the networkinterface, evaluation information of the first user, the evaluationinformation indicating an evaluation of the user.
 14. The serveraccording to claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to: receive,via the network interface, setting information from the first mobilephone via the network; and control an amount of the first userinformation that can be shared between the first mobile phone and thesecond mobile phone via the network based on the received settinginformation.
 15. The server according to claim 1, wherein the circuitryis configured to enable a chatting function of chatting between thefirst mobile phone and the second mobile phone via the network.
 16. Theserver according to claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to:receive, via the network interface, heart rate information indicating aheart rate of the first user from the first mobile phone via thenetwork; and change the information sharing state from the first stateto the second state based on the received heart rate information and thecomparison result obtained by the comparison.
 17. The server accordingto claim 1, wherein the first restriction information includes yearlyincome information and native place information.
 18. The serveraccording to claim 1, wherein the second user information includes atleast one of career information, hobby information, place of employmentinformation, user height information, and religion information.